Muslim convert ‘raped by man she confided in following family argument’

ABU DHABI // A woman claimed she was raped by a man who she confided in after a family argument over her conversion to Islam.

She told the Criminal Court that she messaged the defendant Y N on WhatsApp, asking for help after a quarrel with her family last June.

He then picked her up from the mosque where she was praying, drove her to a deserted area of Yas Island and pulled over, she claimed.

“I asked him why he stopped, he said ‘you do not know anything, I am a government employee’ and said there was a gun under the seat and that he can do anything he wanted,” she said.

“I told him not to do anything, I only rode with him to help me with my problem, but he did not listen to me and threatened me with the gun he claimed to have and raped me.”

She said the defendant also slapped her, insulted her and threatened to throw her into the sea.

The alleged victim was asked by judge Chief Justice Idris Bin Mansour if she had previously sent the defendant explicit pictures of herself.

“In the beginning yes,” she said. “But then I told him I do not want to continue this way.”

She also claimed that Y N, an Emirati, had shot a video of the rape and then threatened her to share it if she did not comply with his demands.

She added that she believed Y N was a pilot in the air force, and she saw him in uniform in person and in his WhatsApp profile picture.

Y N denied her allegations, saying the woman had approached him on an online chat messenger.

“We only had a phone friendship and I’ve never met her,” he said.

He also denied confessing to police that he had consensual sex with her.

The woman’s attorney filed for temporary compensation of Dh 21,000. The final value would be decided by the civil court if the defendant is convicted by the criminal court and the higher courts.

The case was adjourned.